Prof. Bozigian of PC Discusses Helping to Launch G.I. Joe and the Role of Toys
Monday, April 16, 2018
Professor Kirk Bozigian today teaches marketing at Providence College, but in his varied career, he had the experience of helping to build part of the history of American toys. During his career, he helped to relaunch the G.I. Joe toy franchise while a key marketer at Hasbro.
SEE SLIDESHOW BELOW THE HISTORY OF G.I. JOE
Bozigian discussed the changes in the toy industry and how children are losing the opportunity to use their imagination. Today, Bozigian said children spend so much time with electronic devices. He said they are limited by the electronic game's boundaries as set by programmers versus when a child plays with an action figure they can leverage their imagination.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe original G.I. Joe was developed in 1963 by Stan Weston. But Bozigian and his team took the toyline and re-invested it by making it smaller and creating accessories. The smaller G.I. Joe's were launched in the early 1980s and were expected to sell $15 million, but that first-year sales exceeded $50 million in sales.
A consumer marketing and new product development expert he worked on a wide variety of toys, games, sporting goods at Hasbro. And was a key player in not only relaunching G.I. Joe, but also launching Transformers, Tonka and was the co-Inventor of the Junk Ball backyard baseball.
Related Slideshow: Pawtucket’s Hasbro Celebrates GI Joe’s 50th Anniversary
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